


you can keep your candle

by pomegrenadier



Series: Structural Integrity [31]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, The Dark Side of the Force, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 07:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10657560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pomegrenadier/pseuds/pomegrenadier
Summary: The Order will see their hero's fall as surrender to what the Emperor forced her to become.It's quite the opposite.





	you can keep your candle

**Author's Note:**

> something something vitiate's mind-control being uncannily similar to the jedi ideal of total abnegation of self, total submission to the Force's will ????
> 
> Title is from "Sudden Life" by Rise Against.

**o.O.o**

Zaarah breathes, and—and it's okay. She's okay. Her mind is still hers; the oily squirming rot of Vitiate's influence is just a bad memory. The Force, though—this, she doesn't remember at all. _Control_. She was never in control, while she was under. But her anger at what he did to her, her fear of it happening again—those belong to Zaarah alone.  
  
They're hers. The dark side is _hers_. No one can ever take that from her, not Vitiate, not the Jedi, not anybody. She doesn't have to be anything but what she is, she doesn't have to pretend she isn't broken, she can just—be. She can be lost and afraid and fucking _furious_ and instead of slipping away from her like she's not worthy, like she's something tainted and wrong, the Force bleeds with her. Burns with her.  
  
Yeah, it's dangerous—there's always the temptation to just let it loose, no matter who she hurts. But it's not like before. There's nothing hurting people through her. Just . . . just Zaarah herself. Her power. Her choice.  
  
Mostly, though, she wants to cry. The dark side _welcomes_ her, and it feels like coming home.

**o.O.o**


End file.
